All Ashton abs, no actual action

Giles Hardie

Those who judge a film by its title, be warned. Killers is a chick flick with guns.

It is not an action film. Director Rob Luketic’s previous films include The Ugly Truth and Legally Blonde and despite lots of bangs and bashes, it is sadly clear that he doesn’t possess the skill set to deliver a big cinema action scene. Turns out it needs a little bit more than just fast cuts in the edit suite.

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Reviewer rating

Rating:

Rating: out of 5 stars

Title

Killers

Genre

Action/Adventure

Director

Robert Luketic

Screenwriter

Actors

OFLC rating

M

Run Time

mins

Year

Language

Synposis

Killers

Full synopsis

Nor is Killers a romantic comedy. The plot lacks even a nod to the the will-they-won’t-they core of that staple.

No, it’s simply secret agent Ashton (Spencer by name, Ashton by nature), married to Katherine Heigl who is simply playing the same role she’s played in the last three films. They're getting shot at by all and sundry, and trying to work out why. Then they do. The end.

Off-target ... Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher have attempted to enhance their acting range in Killers, to little effect.

Sadly, in combining the superficial elements of these two genres, the film sheds the substantive qualities of both. If Killers was paused at any point for a quick cinema survey, any audience would accurately guess what happens next and how it ends. The only hope for the film is that it doesn’t pause long enough for anyone to think.

As such Killers is short, sharp, shallow fun, crossed with predictable, prosaic, passable action. Selling itself on Ashton’s abs, it fulfils that entertainment promise, but for those looking for a Mr and Mrs Smith mashup, be warned. Killers is by no means possessed of a killer plot.